At first I thought this was from one of those fake news sites, but no — it appears to be legitimate; John Boehner’s long-time bartender at a West Chester country club planned to poison him.

Michael Robert HoytMichael Robert Hoyt, 44, was indicted Jan. 7 on charges of threatening to murder the congressman in a plot authorities said included poisoning his drink at a country club.

Hoyt served drinks to Boehner for more than five years at the Wetherington Country Club in West Chester and was known as “Bartender Mike” to employees there.

Hoyt called police on Oct. 29, a week after being fired from the club, and blamed Boehner for his woes, police said. When officers visited Hoyt at his home on Matson Ave. in Deer Park, they said the plot thickened.

“Hoyt told the officer he was Jesus Christ and he was going to kill Boehner because Boehner was mean to him at the country club and because Boehner is responsible for Ebola,” United States Capitol Police (USCP) Special Agent Christopher M. Desrosiers said. “Hoyt advised he had a loaded Beretta .380 automatic and he was going to shoot Boehner and take off.”

NPR’s All Things Considered has a report on the Sony hack, and the FBI’s new evidence that North Korea was responsible for the cyber attack. According to FBI director James Comey, the attackers screwed up and occasionally used IP addresses to send email that were “exclusively used by the North Koreans.”

All week long, right wing smear merchant Chuck C. Johnson has been ranting on Twitter about his goofy theory that North Korea had nothing to do with the Sony hack, claiming to have proof from “Sony insiders,” and demanding apologies from anyone who dared to suggest otherwise. A small sample of his dozens of boasting tweets:

I'm now offering $15,000 for anyone who has irrefutable proof that #NorthKorea was behind the #SonyHack.

If you’ve been following the sad saga of the Ginger Avenger and his long-running habit of shooting himself in the foot, you probably already know where this is headed.

Yes, that’s right — the FBI announced today that they have conclusively linked North Korea to the Sony cyber-attack.

Some of the evidence they cite in their statement:

Technical analysis of the data deletion malware used in this attack revealed links to other malware that the FBI knows North Korean actors previously developed. For example, there were similarities in specific lines of code, encryption algorithms, data deletion methods, and compromised networks.

The FBI also observed significant overlap between the infrastructure used in this attack and other malicious cyber activity the U.S. Government has previously linked directly to North Korea. For example, the FBI discovered that several Internet protocol (IP) addresses associated with known North Korean infrastructure communicated with IP addresses that were hardcoded into the data deletion malware used in this attack.

Separately, the tools used in the SPE attack have similarities to a cyber attack in March of last year against South Korean banks and media outlets, which was carried out by North Korea.

Hmmm. Who do we believe? The FBI’s investigators, or Chuck C. Johnson’s “anonymous sources?” It’s a real quandary.

We notice, however, that for every single recent breaking story, Chuck has claimed to have anonymous sources right in the middle of it. A cynical person might begin to suspect he’s just inventing these “sources” to inject himself into the news.

Swift2991There's a lot of skepticism among the tech bros because it is difficult to make a conclusive statement from digital evidence left behind by a competent hacker. The "insider" allegations almost certainly derive from the fact that an "Advanced Persistent ...

In a pretty obvious indictment of the heavy-handed tactics of the St. Louis County and Ferguson police departments, the FBI will now be taking over the investigation into the shooting of Michael Brown, as well as overseeing all operations and protests. KSDK has the details:

FERGUSON, Mo. - NewsChannel 5 has learned the FBI will now take over a large part of the investigation into the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

The FBI will oversee all operations, protests and other activities in Ferguson.

Local police agencies, including St. Louis County police will now operate under the direction of the FBI.

UPDATE at 8/14/14 11:53:52 am by Charles Johnson

But hang on, folks — it looks like KSDK may have gotten this one wrong:

FBI St. Louis Field Office spox Cheryl Mimura says the FBI has its civil rights investigation, but that's it. Not taking over local invest.

- Alexis enters Building #197 carrying a backpack. Alexis had legitimate access to the Washington Navy Yard as a result of his work as a contractor and he utilized a valid pass to gain entry to the building.

- Alexis moves through the hallways and a stairwell of Building #197 carrying a Remington 870 shotgun.

The rapidly unfolding saga of David Petraeus, Paula Broadwell, Jill Kelley and an unnamed FBI agent is getting trashier by the minute. The Wall Street Journal dropped a scoop on Monday evening with fresh details about the case, including a report of a man who sent shirtless photos of himself to Kelley, the accidental whistleblower. Believe it or not, the man sending sexy pics is not David Petraeus — you know, the guy that just got caught having an illicit affair with his too-fit biographer. It’s the FBI agent.

But wait there’s more. Evidently, the FBI agent who opened an investigation into some harassing emails that Kelley, a friend of his from Florida, got a little too involved in the case. According to The Journal, the agent’s “supervisors soon became concerned that the initial agent might have grown obsessed with the matter, and prohibited him from any role in the investigation.”

Meanwhile, the investigators who worked their way through a maze of anonymous email exchanges between Petraeus, Broadwell and Kelley ascertained that the former CIA director and his friend from Florida may have gotten romantically involved as well. One email described a night at dinner when the anonymous writer claimed to witness Kelley touching Petraeus “provocatively” under the table. “Provocatively” is WSJ’s word. We’re guessing the email was a little bit more specific with what was going on with the under-the-table touching.

Jaerikre: #16 Sophist is the VillageGreen Preservation Society It's actually a power thing. Tons of psychological studies showing that power directly influences hormone production and triggers an evolutionary drive to capitalize on that power for procreation and sexual dominance. In ...

Eric K. Jackson, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Kansas City Division, announced today a combined reward of $15,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the person or persons responsible for the recent fire at the Islamic Center of Joplin. The combined $15,000 reward is comprised of $10,000 from the FBI and $5,000 from the ATF.

On the morning of July 4, 2012, at approximately 3:30 a.m., reports were received regarding a fire on the roof of the Islamic Center of Joplin. The fire, which was extinguished by the Jasper County Fire Department, was a surface fire, contained on the roof of the building, that did not penetrate the building or cause any interior damage.

A review of the surveillance video showed an unidentified white male walking up to the building and throwing an ignited object onto the roof. Below is a full-face image, taken from the surveillance video, of the individual who threw the object onto the roof of the building.Unidentified White Male

Federal law criminalizes arson and vandalism against houses of worship committed either because of the race or ethnicity of the group using the property or, in certain circumstances, because of the religious nature of the property.

This case is being investigated by the FBI, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, the ATF, and the Missouri Division of Fire Safety.

Law enforcement is requesting the assistance of the public in this matter. Anyone with information regarding this fire or the individual depicted in the surveillance video and the photo above is requested to contact any of the investigating agencies listed.

Additional photos and surveillance video of the suspect attempting to start the fire at Islamic Center will be distributed to members of the media at a scheduled press conference in an effort to seek the public’s assistance in identifying this individual.

The F.B.I. investigation is part of a larger international inquiry into a loose confederation of hackers calling itself “Anonymous” that coordinated the cyberattacks against the Web sites of companies like PayPal, Visa and MasterCard late last year after they severed ties with WikiLeaks.

Law enforcement agencies in France, Germany and the Netherlands have also sought to find members of the group. On Thursday, the authorities in Britain also executed several search warrants and arrested five people, whose ages were said to range from 15 to 26, accusing them of playing a role in the attacks. …

The F.B.I. said that facilitating or conducting such an attack is illegal and punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

samgakGiven the number of people who have to participate in these DDoS attacks for them to be effective, those who are prosecuted will be a tiny fraction of the total, making them little more than scapegoats. I don't support DDoSing, ...

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Westboro Baptist Church's attempts to protest at Leonard Nimoy funeral thwarted by inability to find it Unaffiliated Christian group failed to find church where service to commemorate the life of Star Trek star was being held. The Westboro Baptist Church ...

Buried somewhere deep inside the code of some Web browsers and websites is an old, weak version of encryption that can easily be cracked. And the only reason it exists is because of bad U.S. policies that have since ...

Justice Department Spokesman Marc Raimondi released the following statement Tuesday: "Three documents - a criminal Information, a plea agreement, and a statement of facts - were filed today in the United States District Court for the Western District of ...

Morgan Whitaker exposes where wingnuts are getting their "information" on "the evil, un-American, Kenyan, Marxist Muslim" Obama. This story is about a year old, but its still relevant today. David Jackson, of Belmont, NC, does not like President Obama. He ...

What, precisely, is this woman's major malfunction? For going on 30 years, she has been the target of every strange conspiracy theory that the half-bright mind of man can dream up. She knows they're out there, pining to have ...

Jeb Bush has been adamant that he will not switch his positions on two issues, immigration and Common Core standards, that will generate conservative opposition in the Republican primaries. But he just made a major concession to conservatives on ...

The Electronic Privacy Information Center has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Samsung over what it says is the recording of private conversations in homes through the company's television sets. The privacy rights group filed a complaint with ...

From the National Center for Science Education House File 272, introduced in the Iowa House of Representatives on February 17, 2015, and referred to the House Committee on Education, would, if enacted, prevent Iowa from adopting the Next Generation ...

Kevin talks about a pervasive industry problem - being compliant according to your auditor and their checklist, but still being highly vulnerable. One of the common faults in compliance is senior level managers who don't really know enough end up ...

Curt Schilling showed a young punk you don't mess with his daughter on twitter. Schilling's fond paternal congratulations were met with "tweets with the word rape, bloody underwear and pretty much every other vulgar and defiling word you could likely ...

In this era of raw nerves, protests and increased tensions, Americans really want leadership. It's natural for the public and the media to desperately seek out examples that appear to affirm that our nation is changing for the better. ...

By this process, you can arrive at a conclusion like this: To win the War on Women, you better put a ring on it. At CPAC, conservatives dedicated an entire panel to "The Future of Marriage." One could be ...

Earlier today interested Redditors posed questions to Poitras and Greenwald in Los Angeles, while Snowden posted from Moscow. A rare opportunity for average people to directly communicate with the (in)famous leaker.See the entire discussion HERE Redditor masondog13 asks: What's the ...

Wait a minute... watching Fox News and the Republican talking heads I learned that all Muslims are bad bad bad and in no way can Islam be interpreted as any sort of peaceful religion. news.yahoo.com OSLO (Reuters) - More than ...

For the last three years it's been my privilege to help coach a dedicated group of young women who have founded the first Women's Flat-Track Roller Derby league in Israel. They've learned, trained, fought, and worked unbelievably hard to bring ...

Added bold is all mine. this was an awkward way to go about gun control anyway. It clearly impacts the law abiding far more than felons, and is by that definition inefficient and intrusive at best. Gonna have to do ...

Frank says:

THE VERY BIG STUPID is a thing which breeds by eating The Future. Have you seen it? It sometimes disguises itself as a good-looking quarterly bottom line, derived by closing the R&D Department. -- from The Real Frank Zappa book.